Saturday, March 5, 2011

Meetin' Someone Famous

Once upon a time, I started reading this blog called "Confessions of the Pioneer Woman." I stumbled upon it because I have a friend who posts pictures of these amazing-looking dishes and always gave credit to "The Pioneer Woman" for the recipes. I was intrigued. I had to find these recipes. So, I googled.

I was shocked by what I found. It is this massive blog that includes a page for her random blogs about daily life, a page with recipes she has made that include step-by-step pictures for each recipe, a page with photography, a page called home and garden where she blogs about everything from favorite products to hotel room tours, a page about homeschooling, and a site called Tasty Kitchen, a recipe-sharing site. Wowzah!

I was hooked, addicted, in love, with this lady who called herself The Pioneer Woman. Who is she? Her name is Ree Drummond. She is a rancher's wife who lives in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

You may remember my Christmas blog post in which I explained how incredibly excited I was to get Ree's cookbook from my grandma. If not, you can read it here. Well, she recently published a new book. A novel of how she met and married her husband. Along with the new book, came a book tour. She made an appearance in OKC in February, but it was in the middle of that ugly ice storm, so I didn't go and I was sad.

Friday night, she was in Norman. My friend, Rachel, and I loaded up in Rachel's Hyundai with our cookbooks and novels and headed south. We arrived at Hastings in Norman considerably earlier than we needed to, probably around 3:00. The signing didn't start until 6:00. We shopped around awhile, then decided to get our tickets. There were orange tickets for the first 100 or so people. Then blue tickets for everyone after that. They split us into groups of 25. We got blue tickets.

Around 4:00, we started getting a little bored. We were also getting a little excited. Rachel has a fancy new iPhone, so we decided to make fools of ourselves in front of 100 PW fans by taking ridiculous pictures. Enjoy!

Waiting happily!

Waiting creepily.

This is Cowboy Josh.He lives on the Drummond's ranch.I will marry him someday!

Rachel takes a picture with Cowboy Josh, too.She will not marry him someday.I won't allow it.

By this time, I have gone crazy with waiting.In case you couldn't tell.

Well, it got pretty close to 6:00 and there was a crowd forming. So, we went to the area to secure good spots. Unfortunately, I'm short, so there really wasn't a good spot. Rachel, the giant, took this picture of the all the people before Ree got there.

There she is!!!!!! Boy, were we excited! She brought her second daughter, Paige with her. She is tall. She told us that when they did the Dallas signing, they stayed until 3:00 am. CRAZY!!!

She did a short little Q&A. Again, I am short, so this is the best picture I could get. She didn't talk for very long, before she got down to business!

Finally, our numbers were called and we made it to the front of the line. She was so sweet. She took the time out to have a mini-conversation with everyone. It was definitely mini, because I apparently lose the ability to speak when I am in the presence of someone "famous."

Don't I look so happy!

Rachel looks like she is sitting on her lap.Haha! Precious!

"Black Heels to Tractor Wheels"The Novel

"The Pioneer Woman Cooks"The cookbook.

It was a great adventure! I loved getting to meet someone "famous," even though I became somewhat mute in her presence.

Oh, by the way, in case anyone else is a fan...Ree is working on a second cookbook!!!